Nearly 18 million car journeys are expected across Britain during the August bank holiday weekend, with major road delays and widespread rail engineering works set to cause significant travel disruption. The RAC has warned drivers to set off as early as possible to avoid heavy traffic, particularly on routes to airports and coastal areas.
The south-east and south-west of England are expected to see the heaviest congestion. Heavy traffic is forecast on the M5 between Bristol and Devon, with delays exceeding 40 minutes expected on Friday and Saturday between junction 15 north of Bristol and junction 23 for Bridgwater.
Channel crossing routes will also face major holdups, with drivers heading to Dover or Folkestone expected to encounter delays of more than 30 minutes on the M20 in Kent on Friday.
Best travel times revealed
Traffic will be lightest after 7pm on Friday, before 9am on Saturday and before 11am on Monday. Sunday is expected to offer the clearest roads throughout the day.
The 17.6 million journey figure is based on a survey of 2,080 UK adults, extrapolated to the 34 million cars licensed in the UK.
Nick Mullender, repairs team leader at the RAC, said: "More traffic on the roads will inevitably lead to more vehicle breakdowns, especially if the sun makes an appearance and people decide on the day to visit popular destinations. Anyone planning routes through these areas should set off as early as possible or be prepared to spend longer in traffic."
Rail network faces major disruption
Railway passengers will encounter their own challenges as Network Rail carries out 261 engineering projects over the long weekend. Some major routes will be completely closed for maintenance work.
Long-distance services between London King's Cross and Peterborough will be suspended on Sunday, affecting Anglo-Scottish routes along the east coast mainline operated by LNER and Lumo. Avanti West Coast will run a reduced service to and from London Euston.
No trains will run between Birmingham New Street and Birmingham International from Saturday to Monday, with affected Avanti West Coast and CrossCountry services being diverted and adding extra journey time. London Northwestern services will run to and from Birmingham International only.
Engineering works defended
Helen Hamlin, chief network operator at Network Rail, said: "While the vast majority of the railway will be running, works on some parts of the network are unfortunately unavoidable as we complete major work to support a better, more reliable railway that we wouldn't be able to complete in a normal weekend. So we're asking passengers to check their journeys in advance to ensure their route isn't affected."
The August bank holiday marks the final long weekend before Christmas in England and Wales, driving exceptionally high travel demand across both road and rail networks.
Sources used: "PA Media", "The Guardian", "Independent", "Express" Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
